Can You See Me Now?
by Katah
Summary: [no pairings, songfic to Clowns by tATu] Kaiba Seto and Mazaki Anzu talk about life, responsibility and Christmas in detention. Philosophical oddness abounds. A character study into both dancer and dragon tamer.


Odd. A songfic to t.A.T.u.'s Can You See Me Now? Kaiba and Anzu have a talk in detention.

**Text** - what Anzu or Kaiba are writing

_Text_ - what Anzu or Kaiba are thinking

"Text" - what Anzu or Kaiba are saying

Text - descriptions

Text - song lyrics

* * *

**I will not fall asleep in class**

I will not fall asleep in class

I will not fall asleep in class

I will not-

"Fuck off, I don't care,"

-fall asleep in-

"I don't care if you have to sell your heart on ebay, just get me those files!"

-class

I-

"Do you want me to write out a **script?**"

-will not-

"Hold on for an hour,"

-fall asleep in-

"Not that it's any of your **business**, but I'm still at school,"

-class

I will-

"Half an hour at the most. Look, I have to go,"

-not fall asleep-

"Some insipid writing task,"

-in class

I will not-

"…what do you mean you won't work Christmas!"

-fall asleep in-

"You don't want the damn bonus? Fine, no bonus for you. Goodbye!"

-class

"What's the big deal about Christmas anyway?" He grumbled, slipping the cell phone away.

I-

"It's a family holiday," She reasoned. "You should give that poor guy a break,"

-will not-

"I didn't ask for your opinion," He responded, clearly still in a pissy mood. "The day I ask for your opinion is the day hell freezes over and the devil breaks out into Celine Dion,"

-strangle that stupid jerk

I will not strangle that stupid jerk

Dammit.

Rub out. Try again.

Can you see me now?

Raise by 40 since last week

Profit 10 billion American dollars

Market appeal teenagers

No appeal children

New children's targeted game will make estimated 21 billion American dollars if released before Christmas

Market appeal lacking pensioners

Just what games do you make for pensioners anyway?

Hmm, I was wrong about these detentions. This is a good opportunity to get some work done.

"You know, Kaiba, generally the aim of writing lines is to actually write them,"

If she'll ever get off my case.

Can you see me now?

"Mind your own business, Mazaki," He shot back before returning to furiously scrawling something that didn't look to be the same mundane lines as Anzu was writing.

_It doesn't even look in the same **language**,_ she noted.

I will not fall asleep in class

"If you don't do your detention, I'll get blamed. The teacher will say I was distracting you," Anzu noted sourly. It had happened before.

I will not fall asleep in class

"Do I look like I care?"

All this weeping in the air

Who can tell where it will fall?

Dammit. Takarada said he'd work on Christmas when I asked him last month.

Promises are made to be broken.

Suppose I'll just have to work on Christmas after all. Dammit.

"God, you just have to write out a few lines and then you can go back to playing Solitaire or whatever it is you **do** all day in that office,"

Sorry, Mazaki. No time to waste on useless things like detention.

"Kaiba, are you even **listening**?"

God, why can't she just shut her mouth and let me get back to work?

"Of course I'm listening. It would take earmuffs the size of skyscrapers to block out your whiny voice,"

Through floating forests in the air

Across the rolling opens seas

I will not attack him

I will not attack him

I will not-

Why can't he just be **nice?**

"Does the fact that we're in here even bother you?"

Does it even register in your mind that maybe hanging around with the ice prince isn't how I want to spend my afternoon?

"The fact that I'm in this room doesn't bother me. The fact that you're here too **does**."

Believe me, the feeling's mutual.

"It's five days until Christmas. Would it **kill** you to be civil?"

Blow a kiss

I run through air

Yeah, probably.

"Five days until Christmas. I don't have time to be civil. I don't have time for anything,"

…I promised him I'd stay home this Christmas. Just like when we were little kids.

Takarada, I'm going to find an excuse to get you thrown in jail for a few weeks. Mark these words. I'll frame you for a bit of money laundering. Nothing serious, but…

It should teach you a lesson about standing by your word.

The fact that he was basically writing down exactly how he was going to frame someone barely registered in his mind.

No-one else can read the language he was writing in; it was a mixture between French and German, with some things in pure Latin, using a special coding system he'd made up to prevent information thieves.

"You mean you're gonna work on Christmas?" She questioned distastefully.

Don't say it so surprised, cheerleader.

Let's see how you spend your Christmases when you're the leader of the foremost technology company in the world, hmm?

"Of course I am. Since that 'poor guy' backed out, there isn't much choice,"

Leave the past

Find nowhere

Working on Christmas, that's gotta suck.

Still, it's not like he's Mr. Bright and Happy.

He doesn't really do much to be sympathy-inspiring.

"So take the day off and get one of your grunts to do it,"

I will not start feeling sorry for this asshole

"Already promised them all paid vacation,"

Not that I know much about business, but that seems pretty stupid.

"Why?"

Floating forests in the air

Clowns all around you

Because it was the nice thing to do, you idiot.

They might all be incompetent but they've been working their posteriors off all year to try and get the releases out. We've made so much money out of it…

Seemed like they deserved it.

"Because I'm legally bound to by the 1986 Worker's Act,"

Another heap of bullshit from yours truly.

Better she thinks I'm a cold bastard than some kind of working-man sympathizer.

"That was uncharacteristically nice,"

Why are we even having this conversation?

I have more important things to do with my time than talk to her.

"Aren't you done with your lines yet?"

Clowns that only let you know

Where you let your senses go

Well, someone doesn't know the way things work.

Feels nice to be able to one-up him for once.

"Even if I had, I can't go until the teacher comes back,"

10 lines down.

40 to go.

"Well excuse me if I've never had a detention before. Some of us prefer not to babble on mindlessly in class,"

Why that…

Just because he doesn't have anyone to talk to!

"If you'll recall, we're in here for the same reason. Remember? Kaiba go nap-nap in the middle of the teacher's lecture and when he woke up he punched her in the gut?"

Clowns all around you

It's a cross I need to bear

I'm surprised she didn't expel me.

It was a stupid thing to do. She just came out of nowhere and surprised me.

I've been doing a lot of stupid things lately.

"I'm glad you're so entertained, Mazaki. As they say, simple minds are easily occupied with violence,"

Games for pensioners: A cooking game? Or some kind of date sim?

What the fuck do old people enjoy doing anyway, aside from perving on schoolgirls?

"Why did you punch her anyway?"

I don't see what it is to you.

She came out of nowhere right after I woke up.

Saw someone looming over me. Panicked. Punched.

Too bad it was her. She's an okay one.

"It was an accident,"

All this black and cruel despair

This is an emergency

I'm not a two-year-old and I don't buy that crap excuse.

Has he ever considered anger management?

Just because he has to sit around some office on Christmas doesn't give him the right to start beating up teachers.

"You honestly think I'll believe that?"

What is he writing, anyway? I can pick up a few words…

They're all in different languages. How paranoid.

"My apologies. I knew you were stupid, but didn't know how stupid. Congratulations, you have now been elevated from status of village idiot to dunce-cap wearing bimbo."

And they say only girls can be snarky bitches.

He could give most supermodels a run for their money

I will not bite back

I will not bite back

"What, did you think she was the bogeyman or something? Do you still look under your bed for monsters?"

Damn.

Don't you hide your eyes from me

Open them and see me now

I am **not** in the mood for this.

Even if I was, I don't feel like arguing with her.

"Don't bring me down to your level, Mazaki. Don't you have lines to be writing out?"

Lame comebacks are a good judge of how much I need sleep.

I'd say that's about a 7 on the sleepy scale.

"You're right. I do. Because, unlike you, I've got people waiting for me who want to spend time with me,"

Oh, I'm so hurt.

I don't need weak people like you and your little friends getting in my way.

You have many people waiting for you and you relish it.

I only have one person waiting for me, and sooner or later I'll break under the pressure.

"I have all that I need,"

Can you see me now?

Same thing you said to me at the Duelist Kingdom.

Do you still mean it?

"Why do you put up with it?"

I didn't mean to ask that.

Not out loud, anyway.

But I've always wondered…

"Just because,"

Well, that's a straight answer.

I can see he's as talkative as usual.

"I'm serious. My friends and I have been caught up in a few of your company disputes, and I wanna know why,"

Can you see me now?

I told you, idiot.

Just because.

Just because I don't know the real answer.

"Why do you put up with your friends?"

If I ever find the answer, then I know I won't be satisfied with it.

So I don't think about it.

The company is just something I do. It doesn't matter why.

"Because they make me happy when I'm around them. Life wouldn't make any sense without them,"

Confused? Good.

The world is never black and white.

You should have learnt that a long time ago.

"Life for me would make no sense without the company. It makes me happy when the profits go up,"

Can you see?

Yeah, well you sure don't **seem** that happy, Chuckles.

It's interesting with you.

You don't sugarcoat things. You either tell the flat-out truth…

"You seem to be having a lot of fun lately,"

…or lie completely.

You have no middle ground in truth.

In anything.

"Is this Deep and Meaningful over yet? I have a worldwide release to prepare for,"

You look down on me.

You look down on everyone, just because we haven't gone through hell like you seem to have.

It's not my fault my life is closer to perfect.

"Are you done with your lines yet?"

Can you see?

Of course I'm not done.

I have no intention of writing them.

There's not enough time to do anything like that.

"If it'll shut you up, yes. I'm finished,"

No time to eat or sleep or talk or have fun.

No time for anything except,

The company.

"Why are you always so antisocial?"

The company is all that matters.

You don't matter. I don't matter.

Nothing matters except the company…

……right?

"Just because,"

Can you see?

He says that too much.

I don't really care. Not as much as you'd think.

But I care enough to know

"Someday you're just going to break from all the pressure,"

I don't want that to happen.

I like constants in my life. You're one of them.

An extremely irritating and grumpy constant, but a constant nonetheless.

"I know,"

You don't have to sound so subdued.

I don't want to feel sorry for you.

But I will.

"So why go on?"

Can you see?

Because it's what I do and why I'm here.

Because my life seems to have lost all other meaning

Or I've failed at all other meaning.

"Just because,"

You find me utterly infuriating. The feeling's mutual.

You shouldn't be so happy and naïve.

I hate the way you and all your stupid little friends are so happy and naïve.

"So there's no reason. You just do. What kind of stupid answer is that?"

I wish you'd stop reaching out and trying to be nice to me.

I wish you'd stop being so happy and naïve, always running around like you're characters from some magical girl manga out to save the world from evil.

Because when the music stops and your worlds are shattered…

…I don't want to be the one who has to save you.

"It's the only answer I have,"

See me here in the air

Not holding on to anywhere

Stupid wannabe mystery man.

Do you know I feel sorry for you?

I hope you don't.

"You should find a better one before you sell your soul to corporate business,"

Because if you knew how much I feel sorry for you-

-how much we **all** feel sorry for you-

It would break you up inside faster than any company ever could.

"A few years too late for that,"

You want us all to hate you so you feel justified in all you do.

So you're alone.

I wonder why I'm the only one who sees that?

Don't worry. I'll keep hating you if you keep hating me.

"Or so you say,"

But holding on so beware

I have secrets I don't share

If you all break and see the world for what it is-

-a place where horrible things happen to good people and the 'evil' ones will always win-

-then I'll have to help you.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I'm obligated to help you. Much to my shame, you and your friends have saved my life numerous times.

And this is my way of helping you.

Maybe if it's me who breaks that idyllic world of yours, the transition will be easier.

"You're the genius. Figure it out yourself,"

I know what it means and I don't care.

People die and hurt and fear and are never saved by the knight in shining armor.

I wish you saw the world I see.

"Finished your lines yet?"

See me here pushing you

If I then deny I do

30 lines down.

20 to go.

Not even close.

"I think the teacher's forgotten us,"

You looked sad at that.

For a split-second, anyway.

Sad because we're forgotten or sad because of what you did to the teacher?

"Figures. The staff here are so incompetent,"

Neither and both.

You'd rather be forgotten than remembered as someone who is the way he is for a reason.

And you did what you did because forgetting is harder than it seems.

Or so I think.

"Everyone out there's probably having a blast, and we're stuck in here! It's horrible,"

Contemplate or wish away

If I ask you not to stay

In here. In the office.

It's no different to me.

Everywhere is the same to me today.

Dark and uninviting.

"Truly a travesty of justice."

And everyone is the same.

Stupid and treacherous and ignorant of what's going on around them.

God, I **hate** Christmas.

"Excuse me? Did you just make a **joke**?"

Christmas is a time where you can habitually break every promise you made over the year.

You can realize how alone you are and even though you might be one of the richest men in the world, you have nothing.

Christmas is when you realize that when all's said and done, you've come out last place in everything you thought you'd finally achieved.

"Don't you ever get **tired** of being so happy?"

Clowns that only let you know

Where you let your senses go

What an odd question for you to ask.

Of course I get tired of being happy.

Trying to put on a perky face when you're in mortal danger isn't easy, you know.

Just as I'd imagine trying to pretend you don't care that everyone's happy but you.

"Don't you ever get tired of being so sad?"

40 lines down.

10 to go.

Have you started yet?

"We are who we are,"

If it wasn't you and me talking…

…I'd say that was no answer.

But it's us, and that's the only answer you can give.

"Have you started your lines yet?"

Clowns all around you

It's a cross I need to bear

Don't be an idiot.

Of course not.

I never will.

"Hating this world is getting tiresome,"

If I start the lines…

I'll have to finish them.

And then I'll have no excuse for not leaving and going home

And breaking another one of my famous promises.

"So is loving it,"

You're starting to see the evil in this world.

I'm glad.

I'm glad that I could show you some part of it.

I'm glad you won't be broken.

"How do you manage to love it so much?"

All this black and cruel despair

I don't know.

I don't know if I even do, really.

It's just something that I have to do.

"How do you manage to hate it so much?"

I know why.

Because you've seen only the bad.

And I've seen only the good.

And for us there can never be a middle ground.

"You didn't answer my question,"

So I didn't.

We're playing a weird game here, aren't we?

I think I know the right answer.

"Just because,"

This is an emergency

Give the girl a prize, she's beginning to grasp the concept.

People cannot explain their feelings to one another.

Particularly not people like us.

"And then you should know why I hate it,"

I don't know if I like her. Or could even tolerate her if forced to.

But now, I can at least respect her.

Because while she will live in her ignorant idyllic world, she knows it's not real.

"Just because,"

She's nearly finished her lines.

1 more to go.

I will not fall asleep in-

Don't you hide your eyes from me

-class.

And it's over.

"Finished,"

She stood. Picked up the sheet. Brushed off all the eraser dust.

"You should get started unless you wanna be here all night,"

Open them and see me now

Walk away.

Good.

I'm alone again.

I'll leave too.

No point being here.

Time to go home and pretend I hate the world.

Stand up. Leave the paper on the desk.

Why do you have detention today?

Just because.

Can you see me now?


End file.
